Thomas Beddoes to James Watt Jr, 20 May 1795
Clifton 20 May
Dear Sir
I have not heard one syllable of Ld Daer’s machine – I mentioned the failure of it according to the advice of one of the Douglases in my letters to you in London. I shall certainly write to Lord Selkirk & I can truly affirm that the delay has occasioned the loss of a sale for it. When you wrote to Mr Coates, permitting him to offer his apparatus to me, & told him he might order another at less expence, I thought it wd be better he shd take Lord Selkirk’s which he agreed to do – & he left orders at the Exeter carriers to have the boxes delivered at his house when they arrived. This is the history of these two apparatuses as far as I am acquainted with it. I am extremely sorry you have been so often disgusted since this branch of business was undertaken On this account I am glad I have placed the matter in its proper light before the public; though I still apprehend your father will be angry at the dedication or whatever else he may like to call it –
I shall this week send a list of the subscribers to the newspapers I certainly believe if the business well managed, the design might be carried into execution. But I cannot manage well in my present situation. I shall, however, do all I can; & if men are such fools that they will do nothing for themselves, they must be drenched & die as heretofore – – For myself, my ideas concerning the approaching miseries of this country not only deprive me of all desire of getting rich – a desire which I never felt very strongly – but have very much abated that ardour, which I shd have felt in other circumstances & in better times, for the advancement of knowledge. I cannot myself see how we are to get out of the political scrape in which we are at present involved – Nor do I imagine that the period of tribulation can be at many months’ [MS torn]tance.
I have enquired of Rosser who never received any cask of manganese or other earth for me –
Since I began to write this, I have received from Hull the agreeable intelligence of two clean cures – one of a remarkably distinct case of chlorosis by oxygen which will pin up the basket of proof as far as this disease is concerned – the other of apparently incipient phthisis – I shall begin to print my appendix of cases & exps forthwith. I shall write to your father soon; I am afraid he is unwell or occupied; otherwise he wd have given me a line on the new Ed. I shall be happy to hear from him whenever he can favour me with a letter – yrs trulyThomas Beddoes
Address: Mr J. Watt / Mr Boulton / Soho, / Birmingham // [re-addressed in another hand:] / at Mrs Matthews no. 6 / Green Lettice Lane/ Cannon Street / London
Endorsement: Dr Beddoes / Clifton 20 May 1795
MS: LoB MS 3219/4/27/18